May all the dreamers go forth

Congratulations to all the finalists in the “Name Your Dream Assignment” photographer’s competition. There will only be one cash winner, but I hope others keep going on their dream ideas. Many of these ideas do not require a $50K cash prize to accomplish.

I was heartened and inspired by the ideas, the comments, and the professionalism that came forth from this. My idea (“Shooting Without Guns,” Afghanistan) ended up at 58th, which was far better than I expected to do having entered only on March 27.

It was a real testament to networking. Having to campaign for the votes put me back in touch with many colleagues that I had not heard from or written to in a long time. I’ve been away from overseas work, and this dream contest made me realize how much I want to go back.

The comments were very moving. I made many new contacts, too. And best of all, I got three job offers to go back to Afghanistan because of this contest.

I hope that all of those who are sincere about their dreams will now work diligently to find the way to pursue them. There is ALWAYS a way.

You can read about my idea and see all the comments by following the link here

The top 100 are here

Update: Afghanistan project now rank 63rd – VOTE BY MIDNIGHT

I am really honored that so many people – colleagues, friends, and total strangers – around the world have taken the time to vote for this project…

To vote, go to

http://nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/BarakaPhotos/shooting-without-guns/

This is the full project description

Summary:

Children in rural Afghanistan know what guns are – but most haven’t held a camera. I want to work with them to photograph life in the village and give the world a new view of Afghanistan. I chose a village where I’ve worked and know people.

Detailed description:

From an airplane, Afghanistan’s rugged mountains look uninhabitable. And from the viewpoint of news media from across the globe, images of violence and poverty dominate.

But tucked in the folds of Afghan mountains are thousands of villages, where people work, eat, play, and pray. Where children are coming to school as never before.

Although war has dominated Afghan life for three decades, the children today have a chance to live a stable life. Communication is a fundamental tool in bringing about peace and justice.

Story-telling is a traditional way of passing on information, and images are an immediate and powerful way to tell stories. “Shooting Without Guns” takes aim at conflict by putting photography tools in the hands of children. The project would help ordinary Afghans tell their own story through their own visual perspective.

In learning to use cameras, children will learn technology and connect to the larger world. Their images can allow us to see what our families have in common with their families – and through the blog, Afghan children can gain a personal connection with children in other places.

Although I would be taking photographs as part of the project, my photos would chiefly be instructional materials as I teach the children to take their own photographs. Together, all our photos would become documentation of the project, and I would act as a trainer, editor and mentor.

The children have a perspective on their homes, fields and streets that an outsider can never have. I choose to work with children so that they can grow up with an alternative meaning for the word “shoot” – so that they can all become shooters who add to life rather than take it away. Because most learning is shared within the household, the children can teach their older siblings and their parents as well.

A large portion of the project money would go to buying inexpensive digital cameras, computers, and a portable receiver for internet connection, and (since the village does not have regular electricity) a solar-power battery system to run them. I would train children and their teachers to use and maintain this equipment, so that the project would carry on after I leave.

The project is based in Mohammad Agha village in Logar province, southeast of Kabul, a strategic area both politically and militarily. I am confident that I can accomplish this project because of my experience in living and working in Afghanistan, and my personal contacts in this particular village.

As a journalist since 1980 and overseas trainer since 1996, I have worked with Afghans and people in 17 other countries so that they can tell their own stories. I have designed, managed and carried out extended projects for non-profit organizations.

My husband and I lived in Afghanistan from November 2002 to November 2004, and worked on several national projects to train Afghan journalists. We helped build the first independent national news agency, Pajhwok Afghan News (which in 2008 won the International Press Freedom Award), and I started an organization of Afghan journalism trainers. After leaving Afghanistan, we continued to work with Pajhwok and the trainers as they became fully Afghan organizations. We still advise and support them.

I also raise money for a girls’ school in Logar. The original school was attacked in 2003, and I covered the story with a group of journalists in training. I was very moved by the strong determination of people in the village, especially the little girls. So my family assisted them as they built a new school, and since I returned to the US in 2007 I’ve had fundraising sales and given talks about Afghanistan to help them.

“Shooting Without Guns” would, I hope, be a pilot project that could be replicated in other parts of Afghanistan and other countries as well. I would design and implement it with the idea of creating a model that others could use, complete with teaching materials and examples from this village.

Afghan Project needs help!

I am trying to fund a project to teach photography to children in an Afghan village. You can read about it by following the link here

and then, please VOTE for this project! I need to be in the top 20 vote-getters by next Friday, April 3…

more soon…

Of contests, books and legitimacy

Got a letter today that at first made me very happy: My photograph “Rain, From Below” was chosen as a finalist from among 3,000 entries in the 28th Annual Spring Photography Contest of Photographer’s Forum magazine, co-sponsored by Canon.

Rain, From Below - Bali 2007

Then I realized that there must be at least 104 finalists (and I assume, double that number) because next month they will announce the 100 Honorable Mentions and the first through fourth place winners. But still, even if there are 300 finalists, I’m in the top 10 percent. And hey, it was an international competition.

As a finalist, I’ll see my name and photo in their hardcover Best of Photography Annual 2008. That’s nice too – but, I have to pay $55 for a copy of it.

Hmmm…. I could buy some of that really nice Epson fine arts paper for $55. Or a tank of gas to go shooting in southern Georgia. Couldn’t they have given the finalists a free book, or maybe a discount?

But, well, what do you want for a $4-per-photo entry fee?

This letter starts me down the usual no-win debate inside my head about contests in general. I’ve always hated them, never thought they were worth much. I saw great photos and feature stories that didn’t win contests and mediocre photos and stories that did.

I remember all the contests I sat through as a young journalist with my photographer friends. We’d go down to Columbus for the Ohio News Photographer Association judging sessions, which were open, and watch the judges rip through those photos. There were hundreds of photos, and so each image got perhaps a 2-second viewing before being rejected or taken to the next level of judging. It was a good lesson in just how to compose and light a photo that has impact.

In fact I learned a lot about photography from those contests, but moreso from hanging out with some very fine photojournalists. (Ed, Gus, Marcy, Denny, Fred, ….. you know who you are)

One year in particular I remember because a young woman won the portfolio competition for Photographer of the Year. She was still in college, I think, but she’d done an internship in California and came back with some photos that were pretty exotic by Ohio standards – bullfights and such.

The subject matter was dramatic, but her technical skills left much to be desired. Meanwhile, several of the photographers who had never traveled outside of our poor and dying rustbelt corner of the state had very fine portfolios.

That year it was the glamor of California that swayed the judges, and we felt the “real” photographers had been robbed.

To this day, the photographers I respect the most are those who find a great photo no matter how mundane the assignment. Any asshole can take an interesting photo at an exotic location. It takes a really good shooter to pull a great photo from an ordinary situation.

Here are some examples:

2007 Winners ONPA

Ed Suba Jr.’s sports photos

[Watch this space for more examples as soon as I can coax them out of my friends}

Circadian dance

The competition was about love, or something like that. It was for women photographers. The gallery – which was in Belgrade – posed meaningful questions about whether women subjugate themselves in love.

I had a series of photos that I’d shot on Coney Island beach, of my sister and her husband. I was laying on the sand shooting up at them, while they were telling stories, and so there’s a kind of comic book effect to the series.

I made a paneled piece called “Circadian Dance,” and another called “How Big Were the Waves.” Essentially I was trying to make the point that relationships are a rhythm, and both sides are trying to get their own personal dramas enacted.

I was not one of the winners.